Janet Culp: I am so so so very proud of my team. If you haven’t seen the swim yet, and don’t want it spoiled, stop reading now! Their performance was incredible. It was as near perfect as I could have possibly imagined it to be. Not only was it their best swim ever, but it was fantastic! It was beyond fantastic!! I think every element was at it’s best, and they had so much energy in their last section that it could have been the beginning. This is what we’ve been working for all year…to have an amazing swim!

The unfortunate part of all of this is the scores. I think the only explanation is that we are at the Olympics! Every team had a good swim today, and our amazing swim happened to be 5th best–tied with Canada. Of course we had hoped for better, but really all we can control is the swim we have.

I was talking with my team-mates in the cafeteria tonight, telling them how proud I am of them and that I hope they realize how amazing they are! Then Christina said something that really hit the nail on the head: the Olympics aren’t really about this swim today, the swim tomorrow, or even all the competitions during the two weeks of the games. It’s really about the practice, the preparation, and the perseverance we’ve had for our whole careers. The athletes competing at here didn’t wake up on August 8, and think, “Today I’d like to go compete at the Olympics.” All of us, myself included, have worked for many hours, many days, and many years to make it to this level. And that process is really what the Olympics are all about — witnessing the end product of that journey (or a stop along the way of an athlete’s career!)

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So on to tomorrow. We are fired up! We know what we have to do tomorrow, and it exactly what we did today: go out with the fight and determination we need to have the swim of our lives, and in doing so show the world the amazing product we’ve created. We are so proud of our free program, and we can’t wait to show it to everyone tomorrow afternoon!

Littleton native Janet Culp will compete in synchronized swimming for Team USA at the Beijing Olympics. She is reporting on her experience half a world away for The Denver Post.